Africa Still Hesitant to Adapt Agro Biotech
Lack of funding, loss of trained technical expertise, slow development of the biotechnology sector, lack of political will and the issue of public acceptance brought by activism are the main challenges facing many African countries especially, East African countries on biotechnology and bio-safety. A three-day workshop held in Mwanza Region, organized by African Agricultural Technology […]
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam – a Reward to Downstream Countries
It might be unfair for a country endowed with copious water resources suffering of thirst and hunger for years but that was a reality. Sadly, although Ethiopia is endowed with abundant water resources, it has only utilized an insignificant amount, nearly 3 per cent. However, there is government and public mobilization to build mega dams […]
With or Without The US, Africa Must Push Ahead With Paris Climate Pledges
The decision by President Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change will be greeted with anger, dismay and incomprehension across the African continent. It comes as hunger on a massive scale is unfolding across East Africa, with drought and conflict leaving a record 26.5 million people in urgent need […]
Lethal Virus Attacks Tilapia Fish
A highly contagious disease is spreading among farmed and wild tilapia, one of the world’s most popular fish for human consumption, according to an alert issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The alert issued through the Global Information and Early Warnings System indicates that the Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) has already been confirmed […]
Ensuring Safer Pregnancies for Kenyan Women in Urban Slums
Globally, there’s a general decline in the number of women who die from pregnancy or childbirth complications. However in Kenya, it remains high at 488 deaths per 100,000 live births. Maternal mortality is a health indicator of the wide gaps between rich and poor, urban and rural areas within countries. The lack of appropriate maternal […]
Smoking And Sustainable Development – Potentially Reduced Risk Products, A Viable Solution?
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that six million people die prematurely every year because of the consumption of tobacco products. The organization estimates that if nothing changes, there will be more than one billion smokers worldwide by 2025. In recent years, various products considered less harmful alternatives to the conventional cigarette have been designed, […]
Obstacles to Aid Costing Women Their Lives in Sudan
Most women and girls in the rebel-held Nuba Mountains of Sudan lack access to reproductive health care, including emergency obstetric care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Their plight is one of the little known yet far-reaching effects of years of obstruction of aid to the area by the Sudanese government and […]
Fresh Graduate Uses Earthworms to Produce Organic Fertilizer
Twenty-six-year-old Xavio Dominique Imbabazi graduated from University of Rwanda’s College of Agriculture with a degree in horticulture last year. But he couldn’t find a job for several months. “After a while I remembered that my dissertation was on turning waste into organic fertiliser using earthworms, a system known as vermicompost. That’s when I started to […]
Local Aid Workers On the Front Line of South Sudan’s Civil War
Gunshots suddenly crackled as Stephanie and her colleagues went about a routine seed distribution in a small farming community in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State. The moment she heard the bullets zipping through the air, the young aid worker knew the country’s civil war had caught up with her. “[There were] bullets everywhere. Rampant shooting […]
Mozambicans Pay Dearly for a President’s Financial Mistake
Diagnosed HIV-positive two years ago, Kayana Kandagona* suffers regular episodes of dizziness. However, this is not the cause of the 34-year-old’s anxiety as she waits for a routine appointment at a faith-based organisation’s outpatient clinic in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. Cradling her three-month-old HIV-negative daughter she explains that her 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son are […]
